Ted Hits The Ceiling
by LisaDouglas
Summary: The station manager pressures Lou to hire more women when he realizes Mary's the only woman at WJM. As a result, Ellen Hartley Bob's sister from The Bob Newhart Show who can't get a job in Chicago, is brought on as a co-anchor, much to Ted's dismay. Written by Lisa Douglas and toledo girl.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One- Howard Hits The Ceiling

With a smile on her face, Ellen Hartley stepped out of the elevator on the fifth floor, barely able to wait to tell everyone the great news that she had received. After looking for a job for so long, she might have just found herself a job that she was truly excited about, that would be truly challenging and provide her an opportunity for an actual career...not just a job to get by with. She finally reached the part of the hallway where her brother and boyfriend lived across from each other. Knowing that there was a good chance that Howard would be over at Bob's she immediately chose to knock on their door.

"Are Emily and Howard here?" she asked as soon as Bob opened the door. He felt odd about this...he was her brother after all, wasn't he worth saying hi too?

"Oh hey Ellen, what's new?" Emily asked, coming up behind her husband. "And Howard's here, he was just telling us about what he did at work today."

Ellen stepped inside as Bob closed the door. "I finally found an opening that I think could actually go somewhere," she announced to them.

"Really, finally!" Emily was enthused. She was truly happy to hear that Ellen had found a job she was excited about. She was starting to get worried that Ellen would start getting discouraged.

"This means you'll get to stay in Chicago!" Howard was ecstatic. He rushed toward his girlfriend as he came out of the den.

"Uh-actually, Howard..." she nervously started.

"What?" He was terrified now, she'd been talking about moving away and he hated the thought. Remember, he wanted to marry her.

"That's just it you see, this job is in Minneapolis."

"Minneapolis! What's in Minneapolis?! It's freezing there it snows all the time."

"It's freezing here and snows all the time here too Howard." Bob said dryly.

"Sure but we've got great beaches!"

"Minneapolis has a job for me, and Chicago doesn't," Ellen explained. It did pain her to see Howard this let down, but she had to do this. This was something that she was truly passionate about.

"Are you sure there's nothing here? Maybe you were just being too picky," Howard suggested.

"Too picky! Howard...I'm great at what I do, I love what I do...and being a file clerk just...isn't enough for me." Ellen explained. Bob smiled to himself, he secretly loved that his little sister was so passionate about her career...kind of like he was, except well he was Bob, no one recognized that he was passionate about anything because he was...level-headed.

"Aren't I enough for you?" Howard questioned.

"That's not fair Howard. I could never ask you to give up being a co-pilot," Ellen argued.

"Listen you two," Emily said, stepping before things got too uncomfortable. "Maybe we should all go out to dinner and..."

"I'm not very hungry Emily." Howard paused, he then left the apartment, allowing the door to almost slam behind him.

Ellen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, that's not how she had wanted that to go.

"Why can't he just be happy for me?" Ellen asked aloud.

Bob knew the answer to this but didn't want to say anything. 'It's because he's in love with you, you idiot.' He thought to himself. He knew how he'd feel if Emily had told him she was leaving him for a job in Minneapolis back when they were dating...he couldn't have possibly let her go, and if he had, he would've followed her.

"Just give him some time to calm down," Emily said, although, she knew that it would be a while before Howard got used to the idea. "Then maybe you can try talking to him."

"Yeah Emily, I think that's a good idea." Ellen agreed.

"How about some dinner sweetie, we have left overs." Ellen nodded, agreeing with this, Emily was always very motherly toward her, something she found both sweet and a little annoying. More than anything though, she hated having her happy mood shattered. She'd been so elated by her news, and now, one of the more important people in her life, wasn't even happy for her.

"How long do you think I should give him?" Ellen implored as she sat down at the table.

Bob shrugged. "If you wait around here long enough I know he'll be back," he said.

But Howard didn't come back. Bob was truly astounded, it was the first time, he thought, that Howard had actually stormed off without returning.

Mary Richards sat back down at her desk. It was the middle of the day and she was looking forward to a last minute lunch with Rhoda before she left town for New York. She was

still a little in denial about her best friend leaving. Things sure were poised to change...she'd heard a rumor, just a rumor about the station manager wanting a woman co-anchor for Ted. She was dying to know if it was true or not, but Mr. Grant had been busy...and even grumpier than usual all day, something which served as an indication to her that the rumor might be true. Mary jumped slightly as the door to Mr. Grant's office flew open.

"Mary!" he called out in his usual intimidating tone.

"Coming!" she responded. Quickly, she stood up and headed into his office. "Anything wrong Mr. Grant?" she implored, watching him as he sat at his desk, staring down at a letter. Mary's eyes wanted so badly to dart across the table and scan the document.

"Shut the door...I need to tell you something in confidence." He explained, preoccupied by the paper before him.

"Oh, well it's just Murray..." she tried to explain to him.

"He knows, it's Ted I'm worried about."

"Well okay," Mary obliged as she closed the door.

"I'm sure you're aware that you're the only woman around here," Lou stated, finally peeling his eyes away from the paper.

"Yes," Mary laughed. "I was well aware of that."

"So is the station manager, and he doesn't like that," Lou explained. "He wants me to find a woman co-anchor for Ted." Mary paused for a moment, she thought she was going to crack up laughing. The idea it was just funny, she loved the idea of having a woman co-anchor but what about Ted, he'd never go along with it...the station manager couldn't be serious...he knew Ted.

"Mr. Grant, what about Ted that..."

"He said replace Ted if he won't go along."

"Sure but he has a contract, right?"

"Up for renewal in a month and a half." Lou informed. He looked up and Mary turned when there was a knock at the door. "What is it?" Lou grunted.

"It's just me Lou. There's a Ms. Hartley here, she says she has an interview with you." Murray told them.

"Send her in."

"I guess I better go...I."

"Oh no Mary, you can stay, you're the executive-producer, you should help me decide."

"H-help you decide, oh no, I don't think..."

"Mary, it's easy. We ask her a few questions and decide whether or not she would do a good job. Right now with Ted in there, the standards aren't too high, so if she can read she's already ahead," he explained.

Ellen entered into the room. "Hi, I'm Ellen Hartley," she introduced herself.

Lou stood up and shook her hand. "Lou Grant, and this is our executive-producer Mary Richards," he stated.

Mary leaned over and shook her hand. "Hi, nice to meet you," she greeted with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too," Ellen returned and then sat down before Lou's desk. She went through her purse and pulled out a few papers. "Here's my resume, references," she said, handing them over to Lou.

Lou sat down with the papers and briefly looked them over. "What do you think Mary?" he questioned, holding the papers off to the side so that she could read them over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I would say everything looks good," she answered.

"Good," Lou replied as he set the papers down. He folded his hands and sighed, looking over the woman before him.

Mary thought that maybe they should actually ask some questions. She was beginning to think Lou would just hire this woman on the spot, just to irritate Ted. She was obviously far more competent than he.

"Why are you interested in being a co-anchor?" Mary asked.

"Well, I have a BA in journalism and starting out in the news, I thought maybe I could work my way up to a news writer or on the spot reporter," she explained.

Lou nodded. He then picked up a piece of paper off his desk. "Here, read this," he instructed.

Perplexed, Ellen took the paper and decided not to question it, not now when there was a chance for a job. "Dear Mr. Grant. It seems to me that the news room is filled with mostly men. I think in order to comply with equal rights..." she read aloud.

Lou stood up and snatched the paper out of her hands. "Congratulations, you got the job," he announced.

Ellen stood up and looked to him with confusion. "That's it?" she asked, not able to believe it. "Don't you have to ask me a few more questions, such as what I did before this, what makes me think that I'm right for this job?"

"Shouldn't we at least have her meet with Ted to see if they get along?" Mary questioned.

Lou looked back to her. "She'll meet him soon enough," he informed her.

Ellen smiled, not knowing how to take the comment that she had heard.

"Ms. Hartley, you can have the job if you want it...I think you'd make a great fit for WJM, class it up a bit."

"Mr. Grant, with all due respect, I really have to know what makes you think I'm right for..."

"Well, you asked the question, didn't you?" Mr. Grant asked. Mary never realized he valued humility before. Ellen thought maybe she understood this.

"Okay then, when do I start?" She asked.

"How about Monday?" He asked. "New week...new broadcast."

"I can do that." Ellen considered.

"Perfect." Mary smiled.

"Welcome to WJM, want some scotch?" Lou inquired, pouring himself a glass.

"No thank you," Ellen politely turned it down. "I have a lot to do, I have to go find a place to live and everything. To be honest, I didn't expect to get a job this quickly." Ellen thought her first job in junior high school wasn't even obtained that easily, which was funny because it had been given to her by one of her brothers.

Mary thought quickly. She knew the perfect place. But was it too weird to suggest that they become neighbors...and to virtually give away her best friend's apartment?

Ellen stood up and grabbed her purse. "Thank you very much," she said once again.

"Wait," Mary said, holding her hand up.

Ellen stopped halfway to the door. "What is it?"

Mary didn't feel quite right doing this, but she knew that Ellen was going to have a hard time finding a place and probably needed a friend too, besides it wasn't like she'd asked her if she wanted a glass of scotch, she glanced at Mr. Grant with slight disapproval, but he didn't seem to notice. "If you're free for lunch, I have an apartment that is going to be available if you're interested," she offered.

"That would be great," Ellen smiled.

"Okay, if you want to wait outside for a moment, we can leave as soon as I'm done here," Mary said.

"All right," Ellen replied.

As soon as Ellen left, Mary turned to Lou, crossing her arms. "I like her, but don't you think we should have at least asked her a few more questions. Let her meet Ted...know what she was getting herself into."

"Mary we don't want to chase her away, besides, that's the beautiful thing." Lou laughed. "If they dont' get along, we'll just fire Ted." Mary sighed and got up to walk out of the office, at least she liked Ellen. "Oh and Mary..."

"What Mr. Grant?" She turned to ask just as she was about to turn the doorknob.

"Let's keep this a secret from Ted till Monday's newscast." He smiled.

She wondered how she'd possibly accomplish this, but just simply nodded. She left her boss to his scotch and walked back out into the newsroom to meet Ellen who she found happily chatting with Murray. It was then that Mary knew, with all certainty that Ted was going to be slowly pushed out of his job if he didn't change some of his pre-set attitudes.

"Oh hi Murray, whose this pretty little thing." Ted said, walking into the newsroom from the hall, just as Mary was leaving Lou's office. Expressions like this always made Ellen unreasonably angry. "Hi, I'm Ted Baxter, _**the anchorman**_." He emphasized proudly. "Are you the new secretary...I've been telling Lou we needed a new one."

"New secretary that's, that's very cute." Ellen giggled.

Mary watched carefully. On one hand, she wanted to follow Lou's order to keep Ted from finding out, on the other, she knew it was important to give Ellen the space to stand her own ground when it came to Ted. Being the new woman in a place of power in the workplace was hard. She'd know. It had taken her a while to earn respect, particularly from Ted.

"No Ted, I uh..." She laughed. "I'm Ellen Hartley, you know, _**the anchorwoman**_." She tried her best to copy his intonation here. "Have you been telling Lou we needed a new one of those too? See you Monday. Nice meeting you Murray."

"Same here!" The bald-headed news writer was delighted now.

"Still up for lunch Mary?" Ellen asked confidently. Mary beamed, what a marvelous performance, it was though she'd been there for years.

"Just let me grab my coat." Mary smiled. Ellen left to wait outside WJM's big frosted glass doors and Mary quickly grabbed her coat.

"Mary! Are you just going to go out to lunch with that woman and let her talk to me that way! I'll get you fired, you'll never secretarial in this town again."

"Secretarial. So that's the word." Murray thought aloud.

"Ted! You know very well I'm the executive-producer, it's more likely that I'd have you fired." She said calmly as she slipped on her coat and grabbed her purse. "See you later Murr."

"I-I can't believe she-s, she's turned on us Murr."

"Turned on who Ted?" Murray was annoyed as usual, he really liked Ellen...much more than he'd ever like Ted, and after only knowing her a grand total of five minutes.

"Us. Men."

"Actually Ted, if anyone's turned on you, it's not Mary, it's me," he corrected. Neither of them had noticed Lou standing in the door of his office.

"I can't have it Lou! A female anchorwoman, it's just not right...it's sacrilege! And me, a co-anchor? I'm Ted Baxter! Could you imagine Walter Cronkite with a female co-anchor, Lou?"

"Yeah but Ted, no one could fill Cronkite's shoes...but for you, eh it would take a chimp with an accordion." Murray reminded.

"So this is the place, what do you think?" Rhoda asked, she'd just finished showing her tiny hot pink abode to Mary's new friend...gee that felt weird. She'd never expected Mary to replace her so soon or in quite this way.

"Oh, I love it...it's a little tiny, a little bit on the...pink side." Ellen assessed. She thought Carol Kester, her brother's secretary, and her former roommate of just a few days, would be more comfortable living there, but she could live with it for a while too.

"Great! And I'm so glad to have had the chance to rent this place before Phyllis could. And Mary, here you are, giving away my stuff before I'm even gone." She teased.

"Rhoda!" Mary replied, feeling bad as it was.

Rhoda laughed. "Don't worry about it kid," she assured her. Even though it felt a bit off, she was glad that Mary would at least have someone there. "I'd rather someone up here in my place with you rather than leave you stuck with Phyllis," she joked. Mary could understand what she meant. The idea of being stuck alone with Phyllis was a bit daunting. She sometimes wondered how poor Bess had survived all these years.

Rhoda then turned to Ellen. "So what do you think? Ya gonna take it?" She implored.

Ellen took another look around the place. "Well, I guess it could work. I mean, it is only me here," she reasoned out loud. She turned to Mary and Rhoda and smiled. "I'll take it."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Ellen stood upstairs in her new little, temporary apartment as she went through one of the boxes that had been set down on top of the bed.

"Nothing like moving huh?" Mary questioned from the other side of the room, where she was helping Ellen unpack as the boxes were being brought up to the room.

"No, makes you realize just how much junk you have." Ellen replied, lifting a ratty old college book out of the box before her. She looked it over discriminately and discarded it into the trash.

"It's really um...pink." Her brother Bob remarked, coming in through the bead door that Rhoda had left behind and observing his sister's new home. He felt out of place there and plus he'd never really known his sister to like pink all that much. "It kind of gives me a headache."

"Too pink? Are you kidding?! It's great. I actually find it really soothing." Howard burst as he came in the room, also carrying a moving box.

Ellen turned and stared at her boyfriend blankly. He sure could be strange sometimes. In fact, she agreed with Bob, the place gave her a headache too.

"Ellen, as soon as we have a place of our own, can we have pink walls?" Howard begged.

"Gee, Howard, about that..." She began.

Mary and Bob were both listening carefully but Howard didn't seem to notice her intonation. He was about to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of Phyllis and Emily coming up the stairs.

"Really Emily! No matter what age they are, they're still people and everyone needs to be treated equally!" Phyllis explained as the two reached the room.

Emily slightly laughed. "I teach kids. I doubt that those kids would respect me if I had them calling me Emily and having them vote on what to learn next. You have to take some authority over children," she argued.

Phyllis folded her arms and nodded. "Now Emily, you don't have any children of your own do you?" she smugly questioned.

"No."

"Well now, how do you expect to know as much about children as someone who has their own children?" Phyllis asked.

"You mean someone like you?" Emily questioned.

"Right."

Mary could see where this was going and decided to step in, knowing that Phyllis wasn't about to let it go. "Now Phyllis, have you had the chance to actually meet Ellen yet?" Mary inquired.

"Not now Mary, I'm busy," Phyllis quickly answered.

"Busy doing what? Making a fool of yourself?" Emily asked.

"I beg your pardon," Phyllis replied, slightly taken aback.

"Just because one does not have their own children does not mean that you get to assume that they have no idea what they're doing when it comes to kids, especially when that person happens to be a school teacher, someone who spends five days a week with about twenty kids," Emily said, "and besides, who says I don't have kids." She said, grabbing Howard's arm and pulling him over to her.

"Emily, I thought you said we were going to go for ice cream?" He inquired. He seemed kind of disappointed.

"See! Meet Howard Borden, my friend, next door neighbor, and for all intensive purposes, my son too!"

"She's right." Bob observed.

Phyllis started to laugh. "Now come on. I can understand you trying to use working with children as an argument but this is a bit ridiculous," she stated.

"Oh is it?" Emily questioned. "I feed this man dinner every night. He comes over to borrow from us on a daily basis. I have mended his clothes and helped him with problems..." she trailed off.

"And there was that time we had to read him a bedtime story." Bob reflected.

"Bob you don't understand, it was dark in there!" Howard was still clearly upset.

"There was a power outage Howard, that's all." Emily comforted.

"He also has a childlike innocence quality to him," Ellen added.

"There's a difference between childlike and childish," Bob mentioned.

"Oh come on. I help him spell, I take care of him when he's sick. I take care of his son..."

"He has a son?" Phyllis inquired. She seemed somewhat concerned over the new information.

"Yes, Howie."

"He's like having Grandchildren." Bob remarked jokingly.

"And she takes us out for ice cream." Howard reminded.

"Don't forget that he vacations with us occasionally. He's next to helpless."

"And you water my plants!" Howard reminded.

"What do you do for a living then?" Phyllis asked, she saw Ellen begin to giggle at this.

"Oh I fly planes!' Howard said excitedly, kind of like a child would. "And you're right Emily, you're just like a Mom to me." He said, kissing her cheek.

"Thank you Howard."

"And Bob, uh..." Howard momentarily considered kissing Bob's cheek and just chose to shake his hand instead.

"We're all just waiting for the day that he gets accepted to college and moves away," Bob dryly said.

"I've already been to college," Howard reminded him.

Ellen smiled as she watched the scene before her. "I hate to end this, but I really do think that we should finish unloading the rest of the boxes before it starts to get dark out," she stated.

"All right," Bob sighed. He looked over to Howard and put his arm around him. "Come on son," he stated and then lead him back out the door.

"Really Bob, what about that ice cream?" He asked as they headed back down the stairs. The women could hear them talking still at the faint distance. "And the little brother."

Ellen laughed. Sometimes even she wondered why she dated a man who was so bizarre...but she did care for him still. Mary, on the other hand, thought he was so sweet even if he was a little odd.

Phyllis looked around the room for a moment. "Well, I'm going to head downstairs. My daughter," she said, looking to Emily. "Bess, will be coming back home soon and I want to be there to let her in," she explained and then left.

Emily stood there, shaking her head. "Let me know when she brings twenty more home with her," she called to her as she went down the stairs.

"Does living here mean you have to talk to her everyday?" she implored, looking up to Mary.

"She's, not so bad," Mary answered uncomfortably.

"Considering that I'm going to be the one staying here and that I don't even plan on being home too often, I don't really see the big deal," Ellen said. She didn't know Phyllis too well, but from what she has seen and heard, she felt she didn't really want to.

"Yeah, I hope next time we come out here I don't have to see her," Emily stated.

"You two only talked for five minutes," Ellen said, wondering how two people could disagree that much in such a little time period.

"That seems to be enough for some people," Mary remarked.

"Speaking of talking," Ellen started as she pulled the remaining items out of the box and set it aside. "I need to talk to Howard tonight, so I was wondering if you Bob didn't mind going out by yourselves instead of with us," she said looking to Emily.

"What are you going to tell him?" she inquired. Common sense told her that she was about to break up with him, but as they had all just explained, Howard was in most ways like a kid. He was sensitive. As much as she understood why Ellen was breaking up with him, she just didn't like to see him get his heart broken.

Ellen shrugged. "I guess I'll just have to tell him the truth. It's hard to keep a serious relationship when you live in different states," she answered.

"Maybe you and Bob could go out with me and my friends, Ted and Georgette instead," Mary offered.

"Sounds good to me. Just let me make sure Bob's okay with it," Emily replied.

…..

Bob wasn't really okay with it but he went anyway because Emily wanted the opportunity to go dancing and he didn't see the point of coming all the way to Minneapolis to sit in a hotel room.

Bob, Emily, and Mary were there before Ted and Georgette arrived. The three climbed into the booth.

"So," Bob started as he picked up a menu and started looking over it. "When do we get to meet this mystery couple?" he asked, receiving a slight glare from Emily. Earlier in the hotel room while they were getting ready, he had made a few jokes about being set up on a blind date and mentioned how since Emily had nothing to do with it, it should be fine. She wasn't amused.

"They should get here any minute now." It suddenly occurred to Mary, these people had absolutely no idea who Ted was. Most people in the area at least knew that he was on the news, but they didn't even know that. "I think I should warn you, Ted takes a little getting used to," Mary explained.

"That's fine." Emily said, "I just hope he's nothing like Phyllis."

"Well, no uh..." Mary began.

Bob had a patient like Phyllis once, but because he really liked Mary and knew that she for some reason liked Phyllis, he decided not to bring it up, or bring up the fact that Mr. Carlin had caused this other woman to have a nervous breakdown in a group therapy session.

"We should be fine then," Emily assured her.

"Hey Mary," Ted greeted as he and Georgette approached the booth.

"Sorry we're late. Ted had to stop and grab a ten dollar bill that he found on the sidewalk," Georgette explained.

Bob raised an eyebrow at this. As a psychologist, he found cheapskates interesting. Emily found this observation ironic. She knew what Bob was thinking and she thought he was kind of a cheapskate too.

"Uh, Ted, Georgette, this is Bob and Emily Hartley, Ellen's brother and sister-in-law."

"Oh, Ellen." Ted cleared his throat. He was very bothered by the subject of Ellen. Even so, his bravado took over almost instanatneously and he introduced himself, "Ted Baxter, head anchor of the six o'clock news!" He burst. Bob nodded, he treated a guy just like him back in Chicago and knew the type. He also suspected that Ted wasn't so excited about getting a female co-anchor.

Georgette knew Ted's feelings about Ellen, but chose to ignore them. She was very excited to meet a real life anchorwoman, and she had not yet.

"What's it like being the brother of a real live anchorwoman?" Georgette asked, sitting herself down next to Bob.

"Uh..." He began, not really knowing quite how to answer that question. "Uh...average. I guess I'd say." Bob decided, looking over at Emily and Mary for help.

"Oh yeah Georgette, real, uh...real average." Mary agreed.

"What's it like being married to an anchorman?" Emily questioned, she thought that seemed a little more interesting.

"Well now, Amy," Ted began.

"Emily," she corrected him.

"Right," Ted responded. "Anyways, I don't like to think of myself as a huge celebrity. I'm just another man making his way through the world," he informed her.

Mary sat there, trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Something wrong Mary?" Ted asked, distracted by her.

"Uh no Ted, not at all," she replied.

Bob casually pulled a pen out of his pocket and scribbled down three letters on his napkin and then slid the pen back into his pocket. Emily was the only one who really knew what he was doing and under the table, motioned for him to stop. He was taking notes on Ted as if he were a patient. "I'm just doing my job," Bob whispered to her.

"What are you?" Georgette implored.

Emily smiled as she looked to her. "Nothing," she lied and then gave another warning look to Bob. "So anyway, really Georgette, what's it like being married to...just another man, making his way through the world."

"We're not married." Ted corrected, smiling over at Emily.

Bob noticed the smile and grabbed Emily's hand. "We are," he announced, holding her hand up and showing off the wedding ring.

"It's true, we've got a son and everything." Emily added, glancing carefully over at Howard and Ellen as she watched them walk to their own table on the other side of the restaurant.

…

"I'm really glad that it's just the two of us tonight," Howard told her as they took their seats at the table. "I was hoping we could work out a schedule."

Ellen offered him a bittersweet smile. He really was a sweet man, it just wasn't going to be possible for them to see each other enough. "I was hoping that we might save that until after dinner," she stated. She wanted to be able to have a good time with him before she had to tell him the news.

"Why? Now's as good as any time," Howard insisted. He was truly excited to find out when the next time would be for them to meet, and where they would meet.

"Howard," she started. The waiter came before she could continue.

"Can I start you out with some drinks?"

"We'll take a bottle of wine," Howard ordered.

"What kind sir?" he questioned.

"Just get us something expensive. I don't really care," Howard responded, causing Ellen to slightly laugh. It was sad, he always made her laugh. She'd never known a man who made her laugh like that in her life.

"Very well," the waiter replied.

As soon as the waiter was gone, Howard turned his attention back to Ellen. His smile quickly faded though. "Darn it," he said. "I forgot my flight schedule! I was gonna bring it so that I could figure out when I could stop by and see you."

"It's okay Howard," Ellen said.

"No it's not," he pouted. "I wanted to make sure that we could see each other."

Ellen leaned over the table and grabbed his hands to get his attention. "Howard, it's fine. Really, we don't need your flight schedule right now," she told him.

"All right," he sighed in defeat. "You don't love me anymore, do you?" He decided to ask what he thought he already knew. It was obvious that she was avoiding the topic of them seeing each other.

"Oh Howard. Of course I still love you. It's just not as simple as all of that."

"Sure it is," Howard insisted. "If two people love each other, they should do whatever it takes to see each other and be with each other. Look at Bob and Emily." He said, gesturing toward the direction of their table in the faint distance. It looked to Howard as though they were playing footsie, in actuality, Emily was trying to kick Bob because he was still taking notes on Ted.

….

"Hey," Ted said, starting to smile as his eyes went down to the napkin. "What are you drawing?" he asked.

"Nothing," Bob replied, grabbing the napkin and setting it down on the seat next to him.

"Oh come on! We can play a game of pictionary while we wait for our food," he offered. Georgette had just recently shown him the game, and since she let him win, it had become his new favorite game.

"No that's, that's okay," Bob replied.

"You afriad I can guess your picture before you can guess mine?" Ted implored, trying to trick him into playing.

"No, uh...I'm just not much of a pictionary guy." He laughed nervously. "What about you Ms. Richards..uh Mary, what's it like working with, with Ted here?" He was dying of curiosity. Emily rolled her eyes.

"Come on Bob! At least let me just guess your picture and I'll stop it at that," Ted begged before Mary could respond.

Bob sighed. He wasn't going to get out of this.

"Come on Bob, show him the picture," Emily said, smirking to him.

"You're just loving this aren't you?" Bob inquired as he placed the napkin back on the table, receiving the same smug look from Emily.

Ted grabbed the napkin and looked over it. "I hate to tell you this, but you're playing wrong. Writing the word dog and then making up another word doesn't count," he explained and then set the napkin back on the table.

Bob just blankly stared to him. "Gee, I, I guess I'll have to start studying my games more."

"Yeah, Bob doesn't like to play games all that much." Emily pointed out, laughing and smiling at her husband in a teasing way.

….

Ellen was trying her hardest to explain to Howard how she was feeling, to get him to finally understand why she doing this.

"Don't you think that it would hurt worse to be dating someone and never be able to see them rather than to just not be dating them at all?" She asked.

"No," Howard stubbornly answered. "I'm a co-pilot, I would get to see you all the time between flights. And it's not like Minneapolis is really that far from Chicago!" he argued.

"What makes you so sure that every other flight you have, you're going to be stopping in Minneapolis?" she questioned as gently as possible.

"I can reroute the ones that don't," he offered.

Ellen shook her head. "No Howard, you can't," she responded. "And besides, I'm going to be pretty busy around here too. I have a new job and I have to look for a more permanent place to stay," she explained.

"Doesn't mean that we'll never see each other," Howard said.

"You're right, we will get to see each other," she began. "But, it won't be enough."

She could see how hurt Howard truly was, and it hurt her.

"But I love you!" He cried.

She paused. What did love have to do with it? In fifteen years, Ellen would hear Tina Turner's song by that name and come to realize that love had everything to do with it and nothing more.

"Howard please! You have to understand!" she nearly begged. He didn't respond, which hurt her even more than if he would have said anything, even something hurtful.

"Howard. I love you too...which is why I have to let you go."

"Bob and Emily didn't let each other go," he childishly argued.

Ellen sighed, this was going nowhere.

"Well, Emily didn't move to Minneapolis!"

"Of course not, that would've been dumb considering her husband lives in Chicago. Besides, she has a job back there," he replied. "You know...you don't have to move to Minneapolis either...and you don't have to work like Emily...I'll give you everything you want!" Bob would've been resentful had he heard this statement.

"I don't want everything handed to me. I need a career, I need to have something that I'm proud of at the end of the day. Don't you at least understand that?" she asked. "I mean, how would you feel if I told you to quit your job as co-pilot?"

"I could find something out here if that's what you're suggesting!" Howard said, starting to get a little excited at the new idea.

"Don't be ridiculous. You know I could never ask you to just drop something you love."

"You're telling me to drop you, and you mean a lot more to me than any job," he told her.

He was being extremely difficult.

"Look one of us is going to get hurt. Long distance relationships...they just don't work."

"Are you afraid I'll meet somebody in the air?"

"No Howard."

"Are you saying that you're going to be looking for someone to meet here?"

"Why does it have to be about meeting someone else?" she desperately questioned. "I just know that if we try staying together like this, it's not going to end well. You'll be busy and I'll be busy. We'll both get let down all the time. It would just save us a lot of heartache and time if we just decide to break up now. I still want to be friends, I just can't have anything more serious with you right now," she tried to explain to him. Howard looked like he was going to weep. She'd never seen a grown man with a look like that on his face. It was startling at best.

"And to think. I loved you almost as much as my own son." He said, getting up out of his chair and leaving his napkin in his food. "And I'm not getting the check either!"

Howard stormed out of the restaurant, crushed but with a sense of pride left. Bob and Emily exchanged worried glances when they saw the clearly crushed Howard stride by their table.

"We're sorry." Emily grabbed Bob's hand as they got up. She was concerned but glad to make an excuse to get away.

"But we have to take junior out for ice cream." Bob teased, but with the straightest face possible of course.

"Junior?" Ted questioned, scratching his head.

"Howard!"

"Howard wait!" Bob called.

"What happened?" Emily asked when she and Bob finally caught up with him outside of the restaurant. By this time he was waiting for a cab and they figured they'd tag along.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Howard stubbornly replied as they approached him.

Emily sighed and turned to Bob. He shook his head, letting her know just to let it go for now.

"Did you remember your notes?" she implored, changing the subject.

"Yes I did Emily," he said and then pulled the napkin out of his pocket. "Dog npd."

"That's really what it said?" Emily asked, looking over on the napkin.

"Yeah, it's uh, delusion of grandeur, and narcissistic personality disorder," he explained.

Emily started laughing, but stopped as soon as she saw Howard still upset. "This is going to be a long night isn't it?"

"You know it," he replied, shoving the napkin back into his pocket.

…

Back inside the restaurant, Mary looked around the room and spotted Ellen sitting at the table by herself. Although she didn't know her too well yet, she still wanted to go see if she was all right. "Excuse me," she said as she got up and headed towards Ellen.

"Sure, let's everyone leave Ted," he called out to her. Once he saw that she wasn't stopping, he decided to take back what he had said. "I was only kidding! You can come back!"

"Don't worry Ted, she'll come back sooner or later," Georgette reassured him.

"Yeah," he laughed. "She can't leave her friends for too long."

"Well, she left her purse in her seat, but you're reason fits too," she responded.

Mary sat down across from Ellen, who seemed to just be staring down at the napkin that Howard left. "I'm sorry tonight went bad," she stated, hoping that it wasn't too awkward for her to be there.

Ellen nodded. "I guess if he doesn't believe me and wants to act childish over this, he can do whatever he wants," she flatly told her.

"You want me to take you back to the apartment?" Mary offered.

"Wait a minute, I have to wait for the check," Ellen replied.

"I can't believe that woman!" Ted charged. He was closely watching as Mary talked with this woman.

"Ted calm down!" Georgette warned.

"Did you see what she did, she made a grown man cry!"

"She made you cry too Ted."

"I mean her boyfriend! Who does she think she is! A woman isn't supposed to do the dumping in the relationship! That's a man's job!"

"You mean like that time I dumped you and you made me take you back so you could dump me instead?" Georgette laughed.

"Yes," he answered, not really thinking about what she had said. He was more interested in finding the bad in Ellen right now.

Mary came back and joined the two. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to leave soon," she informed them.

"Why? So you can go hang out with your new best friend?" Ted sulked.

"Ted, she just had to dump someone she loves. You think you can be mature enough to at least act a little decent for the next few days?" Mary implored.

"Why? No one treats me any better when I'm having a rough time," he pouted.

"I always try to help," Georgette stated.

"I'm not talking about you right now Georgette," he quickly responded.

"Gee, what's new?" she quietly asked, causing Mary to softly laugh.

"I'm serious Mary!" Ted said, starting to get upset.

"Fine Ted," she gave in. "Tell me about a time that you were upset and no one cared."

"Right now Mary! I'm upset right now and you don't even care!"

She stood up from her seat, keeping her eyes locked on Ted. "Right now Ted." Mary stated, then simply walked away.

Ted looked over to Georgette with disbelief. "She didn't even have the decency to finish her sentence!" he exclaimed.

"That's funny. I got what she was saying," Georgette replied.

"Yeah? What was it?" he asked.

"She wants you to grow up," she answered.

"Me, grow up?" He whined.

…

"I just don't know Mary." Ellen began as they entered Mary's apartment.

"Well, I did the same thing." Mary told her as she started towards the kitchen area. "I dumped my boyfriend when I moved here...of course it was pretty much over anyway."

"What happened?" Ellen cautiously inquired. She stuck back more towards the door.

"He was non-committal. And I'd wasted several years of my life on him.." Mary stopped when she noticed a single tear roll down Ellen's cheek.

"That's just what I am." She considered.

"Now you can't be as bad as my ex boyfriend," Mary said, wishing she hadn't said anything now.

"Sure I am...the man wanted to give me everything. And I told him I wanted to make it on my own...I'm sure your boyfriend didn't tell you he loved you almost as much as his own son."

"Well no." Inside her head, Mary thought, 'wow.'

"I'm worse," Ellen said. "He was willing to give up his job and I wasn't even willing to try anymore."

"You two live far apart from each other now. Just because you don't think it'll work doesn't make you a bad person," Mary explained. She went over and stood beside her. "You just didn't want to see either of you get hurt."

Ellen gently laughed in spite of the situation. "Both of us still got hurt though, and I think he just got hurt a lot worse now than he would have if we stayed together and I had to cancel on him three times in a row," she said.

"Look, right now you're hurt, and everything just happened. Just give yourself a break tonight, and I'm sure that things will seem a little better tomorrow," Mary suggested.

Ellen shook her head. "You can't take something bad and make it look better just by waiting. It is what it is," she argued. She offered Mary a faint smile. "Thank you for bringing me home. I really should get going now," she said and then turned and started for the door.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Mary implored.

Ellen stopped and briefly turned back to her. "I'm fine," she answered and then continued out the door.

…..

"I'm worried about Howard." Emily said, not sure if she should set the table for three or not. She held the third plate, hovering just above the table, trying to decide if she should set it down.

"He hasn't been out of his apartment for three days."

"And two of them, Howie was with us." Emily reminded.

"He'll come out sooner or later. There's gotta be something he hasn't taken from us yet," Bob replied from the couch.

"Bob, I'm serious," Emily stated as she set the plate down and walked over to the couch. "Aren't you just a little worried about him?"

"Yes, but, but I know Howard and I know that he'll come over here when he's ready."

"Or maybe when he smells that pot roast." Emily smiled, as the kitchen timer went off.

She went over to the oven just as the door opened. Howard trudged through the Hartley's front door, pulled out his usual chair and just sat there without a word, his eyes downcast, onto the plate. Bob and Emily exchanged worried glances. Howard wore his bathrobe and two different shoes. His hair wasn't brushed and he hadn't shaved in several days. If he kept it up, eventually, he'd look like Al Gore after the 2000 election when he also decided not to shave.

"You by any chance forget something today?" Bob questioned, looking over to Howard.

"Darn it!" Howard said. "I forgot to water my plants."

"That's, that's not what I meant," Bob stated.

Emily sighed as she went over to the table and sat down. "How are things going?" she awkwardly asked, not really sure as to how to bring up what happened without him getting all upset again.

Howard watched as she fixed his plate for him. "Pretty good," he answered.

Bob decided to go ahead and take his seat at the table. "I'd hate to see what bad is then," he mentioned.

Howard looked over to Bob with confusion. "What are you saying?" he inquired.

"I'm uh, well, what I'm saying Howard is that you look terrible," he bluntly told him.

"Bob!" Emily snapped.

Howard sighed. "No Emily, he's right," he stated and then looked to Bob. "I haven't had anyone that I had to look nice for since your sister tossed me out on the curb."

"You shaved before you met Ellen," Bob responded.

"Yeah, but that was before I knew what I was missing out on," he explained.

"You know Howard, there are other people out there. Ellen isn't the only woman," Emily told him.

Bob looked up and glared to her. "No, not now Emily. The man's been through enough without you going through your list of world's worst dates," he informed her.

Emily sorely looked to him. "You really think that's what I was about to do?" she asked, a little offended that he thought she could be that insensitive.

"Yes Emily, I could tell. You uh, you had that look in your eyes," he told her.

"What look?" she implored, laughing.

"That one that says you wanna ruin someone's night," he replied.

"Before you two continue on with your fight, do you mind if I ask a question?" Howard asked.

"Sure Howard," Emily said.

"Do you think Ellen's ever going to change her mind?" he questioned.

Bob and Emily exchanged glances. "Well, uh, you know, you, you never really know," Bob replied, not sure what to tell him.

"Can't you make her change her mind Bob?"

"No Howard. And no to what Howie asked me to."

"What did little Howie ask you?" Howard was confused.

"If I could make Emily change her mind."

"Oh." He said, recalling the year before when Howie revealed his wish that Emily was going to be his stepmom instead of Ellen.

"I can respect that you don't want to let her go Bob." Howard replied simply, seeming suddenly more himself. Bob raised an eyebrow, wondering for a moment if his best friend would actually accept his wife if he had the chance.

"Howard, if Ellen is going to change her mind, she has to do it on her own. No one else can make her feel one way or another," Emily explained to him. She didn't even really seem to notice what Howard had said.

Howard looked between Bob and Emily for a moment. "Well, if that's all you two have to say to me then," he began as he stood up from the table. "You can go ahead and get back to your fight," he said and then headed for the door.

"You ever get the feeling you let someone down?" Emily implored, looking towards the door.

"He'll come out of it sooner or later," Bob assured her. "I'm sure once he's called out on a flight he'll snap out of it."

"I really hope you're right," Emily said.

"So do I."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Ellen and Mary stood together on the elevator. Today was Ellen's first day and she had the feeling that it wasn't going to go over all that well. Mary had managed to tell her a few stories about Ted, ones that made her second guess whether or not she really wanted to be working with this man.

"Are you okay?" Mary questioned. She had noticed that Ellen hadn't spoken since they had left the apartment.

"What?" she asked, quickly turning her head to look to Mary.

Mary laughed. "Calm down, you'll do great today," Mary assured her.

Ellen wondered how Mary could be so sure, especially if it involved Ted Baxter and his attitude.

The elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Ellen took a deep breath before she followed Mary out to the hallway. It was going to be a long day, she hadn't even arrived to the newsroom yet, and it was already obvious. Great.

"All right, let me just drop my things off at my desk and then I can show you around," Mary said as they both entered the newsroom.

Ellen looked around nervously, upset to discover that her palms were sweaty. She sure hoped that she wouldn't have to shake many hands...and yet she knew she would.

"Well, this is the newsroom," Mary began, "you've seen Mr. Grant's office and where Murray and I sit...and through that door is the set, and your dressing room..."

'Dressing room? Me? Really?' Ellen thought, not daring to voice it aloud. She was embarrassed that the idea of her having a dressing room had never crossed her mind before.

"And that..." Mary continued but was stopped as the main newsroom doors flung open.

"Hi all!" Came the cheery cry of a middle-aged blonde, whose smile seemed infectious yet, oddly...Ellen didn't know the word for it...fake...no...she wasn't sure but something about this woman made her uneasy.

"Hi Sue Ann." Mary said flatly.

"Who is this?" Sue Ann questioned, stopping to inspect Ellen. Ted had told her that someone was after his job and that she would be starting today.

"Sue Ann, this is Ellen," Mary introduced her. "She's the new anchorwoman."

Sue Ann kept that smile on her face. "I see," she said, her tone of excitement plummeting. "Nice to have finally met you. I've really heard so much about you," she told her.

Ellen just forced a smile and nodded. "Thank you," she replied, hoping that it wasn't Ted that had been talking to her but she figured it probably was.

Sue Ann laughed. "Ted really doesn't have much to worry about does he now?" she said as she looked her over and then turned and started for Ted's dressing room.

Ellen looked to Mary.

"What did she mean by that?" Ellen wasn't hesitant to show her offense at that comment.

"Well, now you've met Sue Ann."

"What's that mean?" Ellen thought that was a really strange response, both to her question and the insult.

"Just get to know her, you'll understand pretty quick." Mary assured, patting Ellen on the shoulder as she led her back in the direction of her very own dressing room.

"It's not much," Mary told her as she opened the door and let her inside.

"It's perfect," Ellen replied, looking around the place. It was pretty simple, similar to Ted's but without the pictures and all the lights around the mirror...she found those pretty tacky, like something you'd see in a Muppet Movie...

Mary smiled to her, finding her excitement a little funny. "You can stay in here if you want and get ready. There'll probably be a meeting in a little bit to figure out who gets to read what today," she explained.

"Mary?" Ellen asked. "Be honest, is Ted going to be impossible today?" From what she had heard, she figured that he might only give her one thing to read and leave it at that. "I mean, is he going to be able to pick what he gets, and then I get the leftovers?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Grant will take care of Ted for now," Mary answered.

"Good." Ellen waited for Mary to leave before she sat down on the couch. It wasn't long though before there was a knock on the door. "Who is it?" she called.

Ted opened the door and poked his head in. "Me," he responded before fully stepping into the room.

"Can I help you with something?" Ellen really just wanted to get him out of there before he started whining to her.

"Just wanted to welcome you to the group," he absently said, looking around the room and inspecting the place.

"Thank you." She was a little leary of his greeting. "Something wrong?" she implored, noting his fixation on exploring her room.

"No," he replied. Ted decided that this room wasn't as good as his. "I just noticed that you didn't have any lights on your mirror. Were you turned down for them?" he asked, arrogantly smiling to her.

"I'm not interested in having lights on my mirror. I think it looks too gaudy, and tacky."

"That's what most people say after they've been told they're not worth the cost," he scoffed.

Ellen just nodded. "They did find me worth it to hire me didn't they?" she implored.

"Well, you're more like someone to make us look better, that's what Sue Ann told me. Besides, they find me worth it enough to spend extra money on me. That makes me valuable."

"They hired you a co-anchor. Obviously they saw that you needed someone with you," Ellen told him with a smirk. She'd found a way to get under his skin, and she was going to enjoy it. He needed his ego to be deflated a little that was for sure.

"That's not true!" Ted whined, not really able to think of anything else to say at the moment. It was at moments like these that he liked to pout. Ellen noticed this and decided that this would be a proper time to wipe the floor with him. Ted needed to take Deductive Reasoning 101.

"Sure it is. They bought you everything else you needed, so they went ahead and bought someone who can read for you now until you learn." Ellen looked over and watched him for a second to see how he was doing. He looked confused as he was trying to think of an argument. "Face it Ted, you're not the star anymore. You can grow up and deal with it, or you can go on pouting. Either way, I go out there with you and read half the stories," she firmly explained to him.

"Half!" Ted was enraged. He might have been able to learn to deal with her reading maybe one or two stories, but half? That meant that the camera was only on him half the time.

Ellen found it hard to believe that that was all he had gotten out of what she had said. "Yes! Half. That's the only even way to split it between two people."

"There's no rule that says it has to be even," he childishly argued. "Maybe you could just read those cute stories...you know the ones about puppies, and carnivals coming to town, and old lady's 110th birth..." Ted gulped, a little put off when Ellen stood up and shot him an angry look. She was petite...but still intimidating somehow, more so than Mary for sure, and that kind of made him mad. "Now come on Ellen," he nervously laughed. "You know I was just kidding. You can pick any story you want to read. Just as long as it's not a president story. I call dibs on those. And breaking events, those are one of my specialties."

"I didn't come all the way out to Minneapolis to read a story about a puppy." Ellen was thinking for a moment that if she wanted to read stories about puppies she should've stayed with Howard, he loved to hear those... "Everyone here seems to understand that besides you, which right now, doesn't surprise me."

"But you're a girl..."

"What?" Ellen asked. She was angry now.

"Well surely you must know what you are," Ted insisted. "Although, Sue Ann told me that you could've fooled her." Ted stopped and lowered his eyes to her chest. "And come to think of it..."

Ellen quickly crossed her arms over her chest as she saw him studying her. "The idea that only a man can stand there and read the news to everyone is so stupid I can't even begin to comprehend how stupid it is. I fully intend to read the news, and go out and be on the scene and interview people. And do a better job than you, a man."

"A better job than me? I'm Ted Baxter, heir to the throne." He said seriously. Ellen raised an eyebrow.

"What throne?" She asked.

"Walter Cronkite, of course! It' all started in Fresno, California at a..." Ellen sighed, rolled her eyes and walked away, leaving Ted in her own dressing room to tell the story she'd already heard twice since she'd known him.

"I don't think there's enough room in this building for that man's ego," Ellen announced as she went back out to the newsroom where Mary and Murray were both sitting at their desks.

"I figured that out my first day too," Murray said. He turned to face her. "with such a big head, you think he'd have some brain matter up there, but sadly his ego kicked it out and took over."

"I believe that," Ellen replied.

Mary looked over to her. "You'll get used to him," she assured her. "It'll take awhile, but you will."

"Get used to him...Mary, the stuff he was saying to me...that's unacceptable. Look, I'm going to get a cup of coffee downstairs. Maybe cool off."

"Okay." Mary said, hesitating a bit.

"Uh-oh." Murray said, once he knew for sure Ellen was out of earshot.

"Uh...Murray..." That was sort of the last thing that she wanted to hear today.

"Hum?"

"What uh-oh?" Mary knew what he was thinking but didn't want to fully explore it.

"Well you know Ted...we all just kind of put up with him, but she's going to be trouble if she doesn't learn to do the same."

"Murray I'm so surprised at you!" The idea that this place had to revolve around Ted infuriated her, especially when it came down to something like this, who stays and who goes.

"No! No Mary, don't misunderstand...you know I'd rather keep Ellen than Ted. I like her!" He enthused. "She gives me hope that maybe I'll be able to use big words in the newscast again."

"Big words...what kind of big words?"

"You know something like this: nuclear nonproliferation. And with Ted, I have to say, states meet to get rid of big deadly weapons...it gets old Mary, I...I'm really losing my touch as a writer you know..." Mary hadn't known he'd been that miserable. "But, like I said. You know what happens when people don't get along with Ted."

"You're right...they're gone unless they're Mr. Grant." Mary was momentarily overcome with anger and thought about breaking the pencil she held in her hand, but then suddenly she was just very concerned rather than angry.

"I'm right that I'm right..it's kind of like in the beginning when you almost got..."

"I almost got what?"

"Nothing Mary, nothing." He said nervously.

"I almost got what? Murray! You can tell me."

"What's going on here?" Mr. Grant asked, coming in from the front newsroom door.

"Lou, I uh, we were talking about what might happen if Ellen doesn't get along with Ted and I uh.." Mary looked up hopelessly at Lou, thinking that maybe he'd tell her what Murray wanted to keep secret.

"Oh you mean you almost told her about when we thought about firing her on account of Ted." Lou recalled. "Not a fat chance, don't worry about it Mary." He said, heading back to his office.

"Mr. Grant...can I talk to you?"

"Sure. Is this about your almost getting fired...five years ago?"

"No, it's about Ellen."

"Oh I see." He paused, beginning to pour himself a small drink of scotch.

"She and Ted aren't exactly hitting it off," Mary nervously began.

"What did you expect?" Lou questioned. He'd been getting complaints about Ellen from Ted and stupid Sue Ann all morning...along with a very awkward call from Georgette who thought she was a very nice lady.

"Well, I'm, I'm just worried about Ellen. She really does deserve a chance and I don't want her getting fired all because Ted wants to whine about not getting his way."

Lou sighed and looked to her. "Look, Mary. I was told specifically to hire a woman. Ted has to understand that no matter what, he is going to have someone else out there with him. Now I don't want to have to go through all the trouble again to hire another girl who is going to have a hard time with Ted. Ellen's going to be here as long as she can read. And if Ted has a problem, why shouldn't he be the one to go? It's immature, it's sexist...and he can't read anyway. So don't worry Mary, it's not going to happen. Ellen will be fine."

"You're sure."

"Sure I'm sure. Would I say I was sure if I weren't sure Mary?" Lou asked. Mary could tell that he was beginning to get mad.

"You wouldn't." Mary stood up and started to leave.

"Right," Lou replied, starting to get back to work. "and wants to be here," he told her. "And you know, I've been thinking..."

"Yeah?"

"Maybe." He paused. "Yeah...I like it. How about Ellen is the head anchor tonight, you know as a welcome, and an apology from us about Ted being a jerk."

Mary laughed slightly at this.

"But uh.."

"No buts Mary...and you know what, can you guess?"

"N-n-no." Mary was always apprehensive when Mr. Grant went from being angry to overjoyed in a matter of seconds. Even though he was doing something nice for Ellen, there was that part of him that wanted to see Ted react to this, to get back at him.

"It'll be great! We'll be the first station west of the Mississippi to have a lead woman anchor!" Mr. Grant was wrong about this, San Francisco and Los Angeles were both far ahead of them in this, but Lou, being thousands of miles from the pacific ocean, had decided to ignore that inconvenient fact.

Mary was having her doubts. Yes, Ellen deserved the chance, but this would only make Ted more upset with her, so of course, this would all come back to bite her...well, both of them actually.

"Don't you think we oughta give Ted a few days to get used to just having a co-anchor first? You know, give him some time to adjust?"

"Mary," Lou started. "When Ted was hired, do you think that I had time to adjust?"

"No..."

"Right, I didn't. It wasn't as if the old anchor would come back and do half of the news while Ted only got to do half. I had to get used to Ted in a matter of minutes," he explained to her.

"Don't you think that's just a little different? I mean, Ted has the mentality of a little kid with the ego of a bad politician." Mary slightly laughed. "That doesn't exactly equal maturity."

"I've handled Ted before, and I can handle him now," he assured her.

"Well, I guess. If you say so Mr. Grant," she gave in. Something told her though, that they were both about to regret this.

Ellen Hartley was nervous, eh...nervous-excited. She couldn't believe that she was about to actually go on camera and be a news anchor.

She and Ted stood outside of their dressing rooms. There was only about fifteen minutes before they went on air. This was the part where she did envy Ted a little. They were about to be live in front of a large group of people, and he didn't even seem to care. She hoped she could be able to do that within a few days.

"Ellen!" Murray called as he quickly walked through the studio. "You might want this," he said, handing her the papers to read.

Ellen took them and smiled as she skimmed through the pile. "Thank you." As she looked back up though, she noticed something. "Are my stories longer than Ted's?"

"Oh yeah, I should tell you, you are going to be the lead anchor tonight," Murray announced to her.

"Oh no!" Ted shouted from his spot a few yards away. "She just got here! Let her work her way up like I did."

"Well if this is an improvement I would hate to see what you started out as," Murray quipped.

Ellen rolled her eyes. "As much as I hate to say it," Ellen began and then glared towards Ted. "And believe me, I hate to say it, but, he's right."

"No need to state the obvious," Ted remarked.

"What are you talking about? You'll be great out there," Murray tried encouraging her.

Ellen was nervous, but as she looked over to Ted and thought about it, she realized just how good of an idea it was. He had been spending his time being a jerk to her, why not get back at him? "You're right, I'll do it."

"What happened to you thinking I was right?" Ted whined. "That was when you were right! Why would you go from being right to being wrong? It just doesn't make sense."

"A grown man crying over attention doesn't make sense either, but I'm sure we'll be seeing that tonight too," Ellen stated and then walked off to look over the stories before the news.

Ted turned and stormed into the newsroom. "All right! Who's responsible for this?" he demanded.

Lou briefly stopped on his way to his office from the coffee pot. "I often ask that one myself," he said looking Ted over and then continuing to his office.

Ted then headed over towards Mary who was standing over her desk trying to find something.

"Mary. I imagine this is...your doing."

"Ted, I..."

"What do you have against little old me, Mary?! You know me, it's me, Ted, _the anchorman!" _He said, in his usual way. "Please Mary, change it back!" He suddenly burst into tears.

"Ted. I'm not responsible." Mary said sincerely and calmly walked away toward the newsroom doors.

"Murr..."

"What Ted?" Murray rolled his eyes. He couldn't wait for whatever inane comment or request was coming his way.

"Could you...just for me...you know maybe rewrite the news...you know in a way only a man could say it?"

"Ted, what does that even mean?"

"I know what it means." Lou said, poking his head out of his office door. "Murray you know this, he's referring to himself. He doesn't mean man...he means neanderthal!" Lou barked then left again as quickly as he came.

"What is it you really want me to do Ted?" Murray began. "I've been writing that kind of news every night as long as you've worked here." Murray shook his head and went back to his work.

"I want the thicker pile! I want to read more stories! It's only fair!" Ted whined, starting to grow impatient.

"Your pile could be thicker if you were able to read words with more than four or five letters," Murray replied.

"But Murr...four letter words are my specialty."

"I don't think that came out right Ted."

"Fine!" Ted said. "You all think this is funny. Haha let's rip Ted off tonight. Real funny," he said and then turned and started for the studio with his head down, pouting. He stopped right before the door and checked back to see who was looking to check on him. No one. "Don't think you can just stop by and ask me how I'm doing later. I have a busy schedule you know," he announced.

"We know Ted!" Murray replied.

Ted stood there and waited to see if he would get any other responses. "FIne! Now _I_ am going to go sign some autographs!" he whined and then stormed back to the studio.

"I'll bet he signs more autographs than Water Cronkite." Murray observed, speaking more to himself than to Mary.

"You wanna know what the worst part of that was?" Mary asked.

"What's that?"

"He was more mature there than he has been all week," Mary laughed.

Ellen and Ted sat down in the chairs set up for them in front of the camera. Although she was more nervous now than she had been earlier, she had decided to do her best to make sure that Ted could not tell. Right now, anything to show him that she deserved to be the lead anchor was well worth it.

"You know, if I were you, I would read directly from the paper. I myself, since I am an expert in this area, can ad-lib some things, but a beginner never should," he explained to her.

Ellen rolled her eyes. "I don't think its a good idea for anyone to ad-lib the news. It's unprofessional."

"Shows how much you know," Ted scoffed.

"Five minutes everyone!"

Ted looked over to Ellen who was glancing back over her copy. "I bet you're a nervous wreck," he mentioned, trying to get her to start freaking out on live tv.

"No," she sighed. "I'm just fine." That was a complete lie, and she was starting to wonder how well she could keep going along with it. The studio lights were...hotter than she expected, and caused beads of sweat to roll down her neck and back into her shirt, which, until now she'd felt crisp and comfortable in.

"Well, if you do have to suddenly get up and run off the studio, just hand your stories over to me," he instructed.

"I highly doubt that'll happen," she replied. "But if you ever feel that you can't pronounce a word most third graders would know, feel free to hand your stories over Ted." She smiled, straightening her own stack of papers. Maybe it wasn't all that clever, but she really thought that one was funny.

"We're live in ten seconds!"

That was a lot sooner than she was ready for. That didn't matter though, it was now or never and she had to prove herself.

"Five, four, three, two..."

Ellen forced a smile and looked straight to the camera. "Good evening. I'm Ellen Hartley," she said.

"And this is Ted Baxter, _your WJM anchorman_." Ellen was careful not to roll her eyes when he said this, " We're here with the six o'clock news."

"In tonight's news, the United States maybe switching to a new scale. The country is having a trial run of..."

"Yeah...the metric system, it's for mindless idiots who can't count." Ted interrupted.

Ellen softly huffed and then continued as soon as he finished. "A trial run of the switch in the school systems. If proven successful,"

"Please, only a woman would be silly enough to think it could be successful," Ted remarked.

"As I was saying, if proven successful, the country might be in for a permanent change," Ellen finally finished, doing her best to contain her anger.

"In other news, the fuel shortage continues. Today gas prices jumped another ten pents,"

"Cents Ted! Cents!" Ellen corrected. Smiling to herself.

Ted slightly glared. "Today gas prices jumped another ten CENTS! It is predicted that if gas keeps rising like this, that there will be an estimated..."

"Good job. Didn't think you could read it," Ellen murmured, catching Ted's attention.

"Fifty percent less drivers on the road by the end of the month."

"And now stay tuned for this short message from our sponsors," Ellen pleasantly stated at the cue from the director.

"Three minutes!"

Lou hurried back into the studio, obviously angry. "I can't say much now, but I want both of you in my office the instant this show is over!" he demanded before turning and leaving. Ellen noted that his face was bright red, he looked as if he were about to explode.

"Good going Ellen, get him mad your first day why don't ya?" Ted said.

Ellen glared to Ted. "I swear Ted, you are very lucky that there are a number of cameras around, otherwise you wouldn't have made it through the first segment," she told him as a warning to shut up.

"We're back on in five, four, three, two..."

"Breaking news: there's been a multiple vehicle automobile accident on Elm and Byrne, traffic is backed up for miles. So far no reports of injuries or fatalities, but we do know that that accident is blocking all flow of traffic."

"Probably a woman driver," Ted quietly mentioned. Ellen wanted to ignore it, but she realized it was audible and that the viewers had probably all heard it too.

"What was that Ted?"

"Nothing Ellen, just read your stories like you're suppose to," he quickly replied. Ellen couldn't just sit for this.

"You know Ted, that's an awful big accusation coming from an illiterate man."

"Like you would know anything about men. You always send them away crying," Ted responded.

Before another word could be said, Lou raced in and snatched both copies from each of their hands. At home, twin cities viewers would immediately see a screen reading: _sorry, we're experiencing technical difficulties_, and were shown a re-run of Chuckles the Clown from earlier that morning. Half of all viewers surveyed would later indicate that they felt Chuckles was a more competent newsman, who was more well informed about the world than Ted Baxter.

"My office now!" Mr. Grant bellowed and then stormed out ahead of them.

Ellen and Ted both timidly got up from their seats and headed straight for his office, and sat back down in the chairs before his desk.

"Could either of you please tell me where we're at right now?" Lou calmly asked from behind his desk.

"A newsroom," Ellen stated before Ted had a chance to answer. She was ashamed.

"Really? We are? Because I didn't get that earlier. I thought we were on a special episode of Donahue!" Lou's voice gradually rose towards the end, causing Ellen to jump.

"Yeah Ellen," Ted said.

"I would shut up if I were you Ted!" Lou warned. "We are a newsroom! You two are supposed to be representing us! How do you think it looks when our anchors are out there fighting like a couple of kids?"

"I'm sorry," Ellen replied. "I should have ignored him."

Lou sighed. "I know you are. I also know it's hard to ignore him at times. Just be more professional next time."

"I will," she said.

"And as for you Ted." Lou didn't even really know what to say. "Stop being such an idiot. Remember, it's called ratings, the network, the sensor, the sponsor."

On second thought Lou did know exactly what he wanted to say and he didn't have the heart even though he was severely angry at Ted. He wanted to point out the irony in the fact that Ted thought he was one of the greatest newsmen of all time, or rather, wanted to be, and didn't have the slightest bit of professional courtesy. And on top of all of that, Lou was secretly disgusted with Ted's attitude toward women.

"Fine Lou. Have it your way." Ted left Lou's office with a huff, slamming the door behind him.

"Gee, Mr. Grant...if I'd have known he's what I had to contend with, then..."

"Ellen, sit down."

"O-kay." She hesitated then took a seat, half expecting to hear that she'd be fired.

"Wanna drink?" He asked.

"Ah...no thanks."

"No scotch?"

"No scotch." She reassured, taken aback, but recalling that Mary had said Mr. Grant could be like this.

"Listen. What would you do if I asked you to do the show by yourself tomorrow?" He inquired with a slight smile.

Years from now, in the light of newer pop culture, Ellen would look back at this moment in her career and wonder how she didn't reply with an excited 'shut-up, shut-up, shut-up!' instead of:

"Really?!"

Meanwhile, Ted had stormed through the newsroom. He had enough, he didn't have to be treated like this! He'd decided he was going to call his attorney. He was going to briskly and angrily walk through WJM's big glass doors, leaving without a word to Mary and Murray who sat and watched him in silence.

Instead, Ted met a familiar face trying to walk into the door just as he was going to walk out of it.

"Ted, I need to have a word with you." Georgette said softly.

"Come on Georgette, I don't need to grace my presence with this place." He said, taking her arm.

"Uh-Ted that's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about."

"So you think I should leave too." At this point, he thought that he might finally have someone on his side.

"Well, not exactly." Georgette began, ignoring the fact that Mary and Murray were a party to the conversation. She looked down momentarily, collecting herself to break the news to him. "Ted. I think we should see other people."

"What!"

"I'm..."

"But I'm Ted Baxter..."

"Ted. I know who you are. But the thing is...it's like when I asked you not to call me baby anymore. Remember that?" He nodded in acknowledgement. "Ted. As much as I care for you, and I do.I can't be with someone so disrespectful of women."

"Huh? I thought I treated you how you wanted to be..."

"Ted it goes much deeper than that." She explained, not bothering to mention that no, he didn't really treat her how she wanted to be treated, even while they were on the subject. "I heard all those things you said Ted, on the air, to Ellen and about women."

"This is about her!"

"No. It's about all of us. It's about Ellen, and me and Mary...Rhoda. You know Ted, you don't seem to realize...I could easily be in Ellen's shoes somewhere, sometime, how would you like it if I got treated the way she did by some guy like you."

Mary smiled. This was a sad scene but she always got some satisfaction out of seeing Georgette cut Ted down on an intellectual level. She also liked to see Georgette standing up for herself, she had come a long way since she had first met her. Murray would agree, it was so...gratifying and he knew it really got under Ted's skin.

"Hey everybody!" Ellen smiled, coming out of Lou's office. She was excited about telling everyone what Lou had just told her. Mary turned to look at her new friend...what in the world could make her so happy.

"It's you!" Ted burst, "You're the reason my girl is leaving me!'

"Really? Huh." Ellen was secretly happy for Georgette. "Well guess what else Ted! I'm doing the newscast tomorrow, and I'm doing it alone!"

"Alone! What's going to happen to me?!" Ted was horrified. He was scared. What was becoming of the world?! Women were taking over. Breaking up with the men, anchoring the news...both were men's jobs, the whole thing was madness!

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to act like an immature child," Ellen informed him.

Both Mary and Murray went from looking to Ellen over to Ted, just waiting for his reaction. Mary though, did feel slightly bad for him. Yes, he deserved it, he was a jerk, but she still cared about him, and it did seem like he was getting kicked out of his job.

"I was not immature," Ted argued. "I was just letting you know that I don't like you, and what you were allowed to do, and what you weren't allowed to do around here."

"Ted, I know you don't like me, and I'm fine with that. But that doesn't mean that you can throw your little hissy fits on the news," Ellen said.

"I was ad-libbing, if you actually knew anything about this business you might have appreciated the entertainment that I added to your dull performance back there."

"Ted's right about one thing, he does ad-lib a lot. How else do you think he gets through the news every night without actually being able to read?" Murray quipped.

"He can read," Georgette said. "I know he can. Every time he gets a bill he cries if the number has three or more digits in it and then sometimes writes a complaint letter to the company," she explained.

"Oh shut up Georgette! I don't need you backing me up anymore. You left me, remember? Because its the new _in_ thing to do," Ted stated.

"Ted!" Mary snapped. The way she saw it, yelling at Georgette was like screaming at an innocent little kid, you didn't do it.

"I don't need you either Mary. I was fine before you women started showing up here. It was after you started grouping together and taking over that my life was wrecked," Ted explained. "I'm going home where there are no girls allowed," he spat and then turned and stormed out the door.

"Or in his case." Murray began. "The apartment that girls forgot."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Ellen Hartley swung her purse casually as she walked, trying to act as if nothing out of the ordinary, nothing embarrassing or nothing well...short of mortifying had taken place. She quietly bid Mary a goodnight, maintaining a happy face, even though she knew she really wanted to talk about what had happened. Bidding her adieu for the evening, Ellen dashed up the small staircase to her one roomed overly pink apartment, allowing her mood to change slowly with each step and leaving Mary at her own door, just frozen there staring up at her and wondering how she could help.

When Ellen reached her pink monstrosity of a home she threw her purse down on the floor with a thud, which was kind of unlike her, especially given that she really liked that purse. It fit her mood though. She ignored the purse on the floor as she slowly began to pace, wondering what she had just done with her life.

The decision to take this job out here had just changed her entire life. Back in Chicago she had family, she had friends. Out here, she had a job where the person that she had to work with was the person that she wanted to avoid more than anything, she was humiliated and infuriated right on live television, she left her boyfriend back home, and her own room was giving her a mild headache. After today, she had begun to wonder if all of this was really worth it?

Then again, maybe it was just her. Everyone else around her seemed happy out here. Everyone else in the newsroom were friends with each other, and she knew very well that she wasn't the first person to leave people behind and move to completely different city. She herself had done it before...two or three times and that was before ever coming here.

As she slowly paced towards her bed, she spotted the phone. Howard. That was one of the only reasons that she even slightly considered for a brief moment, not to come. She knew that she would take this job, as soon as she heard about the opening, she had to have it. Her relationship with Howard though, was constantly in the back of her head. She did think about how he would handle it, how they would see each other.

Maybe a single phone call to him would help, maybe. She walked over to the phone and stared down at it. No matter how bad she thought that she wanted to call him, she couldn't convince herself to pick up the phone just yet.

She dropped her arms to her sides and sighed. Calling him now would not solve anything, as a matter of fact, it would make things worse. She would miss him more, he would miss her more. It would just cause a lot of unnecessary pain.

There was a knock at the door. "Hi hi!" greeted the familiar, all too chipper voice.

Ellen rolled her eyes. "Great," she muttered to herself, recognizing the grating voice.

Phyllis stepped into the room and looked around to see what she had changed. "I just came by to see how things were going," she stated.

Ellen nodded. "They're going," she remarked, faking enthusiasm.

"Good," Phyllis replied, looking at the rug with disgust. "I really thought you would have better taste than this."

Ellen smirked at this. She thought Phyllis had the taste of the old woman living in the shoe. Ellen didn't know that this was the only point (regarding style) that she and Rhoda agreed upon.

"Was there by any chance something you wanted?" Ellen implored, just wanting to get rid of her. "I have a lot of work to do."

Phyllis looked to her. "Oh, I was just saying hi," she said.

"And looking at the apartment," Ellen added.

"Right," Phyllis replied. "I'll see you later," she said as she slowly turned and left.

As soon as Phyllis was gone, Ellen plopped down onto her bed. "I may as well have just moved back in with mom and dad," she told herself. Ellen looked over and eyed the phone. Phyllis had also made her long for Howard, she still secretly wondered what life would be like now if she'd become his roommate all that time ago. She picked up the receiver and listened to the hum of the dial tone for a second. Her other hand reached over and smashed the phone down. She didn't need to call Howard. Not...not now.

…...

The next morning, Ellen walked into the newsroom confidently, she was not going to let Ted get the best of her...in fact she'd been thinking it over and she was going to do everything she could to make him look like a fool.

It was evident to her that he would be pouting and was most likely going to go out of his way to get back at her for what happened between him and Georgette. So the first thing she did when she got to work that morning was to check her dressing room and make sure that he hadn't messed with anything. He had. There was glue on her seat, but by the time she had gotten there it had dried. Not surprising at all. It was also not at all surprising to her that Ted would be bad at making a prank like that work. Then, there was green food coloring in her hairspray. That one actually surprised her a little. She didn't think Ted was able to come up with anything like that. She knew she needed to get back at him, so she did the only thing she knew how to do. Ellen sat on her couch and picked up the receiver, finally allowing herself to dial Chicago.

"Hello, Bob! Can I have your friend's number, you know, the creeper?...Oh the Peeper!..The Peeper?...Why? Oh nothing...just a few questions about practical joking for a...for a story I'm working on for our newscast tonight...chicken fat?" Ellen questioned.

While she was on the phone, Mary knocked on the door and poked her head into the room. "Hold on," Ellen said and then covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "Yes?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you were doing better. But I can come back later."

"Hold on a second. You think you could do me a favor?" Ellen requested.

"Sure. What is it?" Mary asked.

"Take that bottle of hairspray and trade it with Ted's," she instructed.

Mary really didn't know why she was doing this, but went along with it anyways. "All right," she obliged.

Ellen thanked her and then went back to her conversation with Bob. "So what were you saying about chicken fat? Ew Bob that's gross!...No I don't think it was funny..." Ellen sighed. "No...yes I'm sure I still want Cliff's number. Yeah. No I'm not...I'm not planning anything."

…...

Ellen stood out in the newsroom, talking to Mary and Murray, well, more like pretending to talk to them as she was waiting for Ted to come out of his dressing room.

"You know, I actually got to use a word with nine letters in it today? And it's all thanks to you," Murray said to Ellen.

Mary smiled over to him. "Remember when you were nervous about using six letters?"

"We all get to move on to bigger and better things sooner or later," Murray remarked.

"Glad I could help," Ellen said, keeping her eye on the entrance to the room.

It was seconds later that Ted came strolling into the room. His eyes narrowed on Ellen as soon as he noticed her. "Hello Murray, Mary," he greeted as he walked over to join the group. He then looked up to Ellen and just stared. It was his childish way of letting her know that he wasn't talking to her.

Ellen smiled. This was her chance. "You're really not talking to me Ted?" she questioned. Ted just ignored her and turned to Murray.

"Because, that's really too bad Ted," Ellen began as she grabbed his shoulder. "I thought now that Georgette was out of the way, that maybe we could start spending some time together," she stated, slowly moving her hand from his shoulder to his hair.

Ted widened his eyes as he turned and looked to her, finally allowing himself to acknowledge her presence. "Really?" he asked. "I mean, you really can't do that," he corrected himself, going from his normal voice to his news voice.

Ellen leaned in closer to him. "That's why no one has to know," she whispered into his ear and then walked away. Ted gulped...that kind of...rendezvous was pretty...well pretty appealing.

Ted decided to go on as if this sort of thing was a normal occurrence. "Well," he began, clearing his throat. "I think I should probably head back to my dressing room," he announced and then started walking back. As soon as he thought no one was watching though, he picked up his pace and hurried.

"Amazing isn't it?" Mary asked.

"What's that?" Murray asked.

"One minute he hates her, and then the next she has him drooling over her. Practically eating out of the palm of her hand," Mary explained.

"What did you expect from Ted? You need a brain to think that something's suspicious."

…...

Murray glanced over at the door momentarily from watching his fingers click the typewriter rhythmically. He was bored with this work: of writing copies that could both be read easily by Ted, but also not spark an on air fight between him and Ellen...upon looking over his work just a few minutes before, Murray would've told you he thought that this newscast would be really cute...if delivered by two first graders. Murray welcomed the distraction provided by the tall man who'd just walked into WJM...he was attractive! He must be there for Mary...he didn't know she had a new guy.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked, more or less just to see if his assumptions were correct.

"I need to talk to Ted Baxter," he informed him. "I'm..." he hesitated, "a friend."

"Okay." Murray raised an eyebrow...he didn't know Ted had friends.

Murray was about to tell him where Ted was, but Ted came through the doors from the studio. "Hey Gary," he greeted, using his news voice.

"Ted," Gary replied as he walked over towards him. "You said you needed a favor?"

Ted motioned to him not to mention that.

"So uh..." Murray began, observing the two, he thought their body language was...weird at best. "Where did you two crazy kids meet?" He wondered momentarily if it was at some kind of bar...you know the kind where ONLY guys went.

"He lives in my building," Ted answered and then looked over to Gary. "Isn't that right?"

"I really do live in the same building Ted. I was the one that complained about the noise when you were moving the furniture around," Gary assured him.

Murray knew that something was going on, but decided that it was best not to get involved. He rolled his eyes and sat back down to type his boring copies. Woman anchor or not, no one was going to watch the show tonight with such simplistic stories, that was for sure.

"So Ted, what was it that you wanted to have me do?" Gary inquired.

"Let's uh, how about we go back to my dressing room," he offered.

Murray waited until they were both out of the room. "It finally happened, Ted has lost enough brain cells to not know the difference between men and women anymore," he muttered to himself.

Ted lead Gary back to his dressing room and closed the door behind him. "All right Gary, I'll have to be frank with you. You're an attractive man," he started.

Gary raised an eyebrow to him, wondering if this was a bad idea.

"Well Ted, you know, I am married...and to a woman, right?"

"Do you think you can pretend you're not married for a couple hours?" Ted pleaded.

"I really don't think so," Gary answered, heading for the door.

"What's wrong! I just wanted you to pretend to be somebody's boyfriend for a half an hour!"

"Ted." Gary sighed, he'd begun to open the door again but quickly closed it. "I know I'm an attractive man." Gary liked to flatter himself, much like Ted.

Suddenly Ted's dressing room phone rang.

"Sue Ellen?...Well what is it? I happen to be a busy man. I'm important around here, you know that...Okay," he said and then hung up and looked over to Gary. "I need you to go see Ellen while I stop downstairs real quick," he instructed.

"Where do I go?" Gary asked.

"Into a room with a door with a name on it. You can't miss it," Ted answered as he rushed out of the room.

Gary stood there, dumbly staring to the door trying to figure out what just happened. It shouldn't be though, at least, that was what he figured. He stepped out of the room and headed towards the newsroom, the opposite direction of Ellen's dressing room.

The newsroom was empty while everyone had just headed out to lunch. This didn't bother him too bad though. Actually, he had spotted Lou's office. "Lou," he read out loud to himself. It sounded like the name he heard earlier... what was it? Lou Ellen? And Ted did say Ellen. This had to be right. Without any doubts, he opened the door and walked in and got himself situated on top of the desk.

…...

Mary walked into the newsroom along with Ellen and Murray. "As bad as it sounds, I'm glad I was able to get away from Ted for an hour," Ellen announced.

"Trust me, an hour will start feeling like its not enough," Murray told her as he sat back down at his desk.

"I was just glad to get away from the childish behavior that had been going on lately," Mary added from her seat. "I've been getting so annoyed with Ted lately. I can't stand it when he starts pouting."

The doors swung open as Lou rushed past the desks and towards his office. He grunted his usual greeting and went straight for his office. No one, even Ellen thought much of it, it was just normal for him.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" Mary was shaken, she'd never in her life heard Mr. Grant yell like that. She, Ellen and Murray quickly ran to what they thought would be Mr. Grant's aid or tried to. But he angrily burst out his office door before they could get there.

"MARY!"

"Yes Mr. Grant." She replied calmly.

"Who's that in my office?"

"Who's who in my office."

"Mary. There's a man in my office."

"Did you see what he wanted Lou?" Murray asked.

"I wasn't especially interested seeing as he's on my desk with his shirt unbuttoned!"

"What!" They all burst, running into the office, this they had to see.

"Um...can I help you?" Mary hesitated, thinking that she probably didn't want to help him.

"Oh, he's a friend of Ted's." Murray announced casually, watching to see what Gary would do next.

"Uh-huh." Mary observed.

"A friend of Ted's?" Ellen laughed.

"Why, what's so funny?" Mary asked.

"I mean, I didn't think Ted had any friend either but it's not that funny Ellen." Murray said.

"Just watch." Ellen had in fact, spent part of the morning on the phone with her brother's practical-joking friend Cliff Murdoch, also known as the Peeper. He had indicated that something like this might happen and that with careful non-intervention, she could make Ted's plan backfire.

"Watch what?" Murray asked.

"This. What are you doing in Lou's office...what is your name?"

"I'm Gary. Didn't you know. I'm Lou's date."

"DATE!" Lou was livid. "Mary."

"Uh...yes Mr. Grant." She was worried at how calm his voice was, she knew it was the calm before the storm.

"Murray you said he was a friend of Ted's?"

"Yeah Lou, his name is Gary."

"Mary...GET ME TED BAXTER AND THE LIST OF ALL OTHER AVAILABLE ANCHORMEN IN THE TWIN CITIES...NOW!"


End file.
